Re: [PATCH] io_uring: Remove CONFIG_EXPERT

From: Justin Forbes <jmforbes@linuxtx.org>
To: Justin Forbes <jforbes@redhat.com>
Cc: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>,
	asml.silence@gmail.com, io-uring@vger.kernel.org,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] io_uring: Remove CONFIG_EXPERT
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2021 10:43:23 -0500	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAFxkdAqK+JyBysxYwUp8BAuQcjkdOpJ=kA_QNVJMTzGez10HVA@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAFbkSA2zt5QLBH0S8pcBROCaV3zSw_M-RvaQ-2yccCKgV-_2BQ@mail.gmail.com>

On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 11:01 AM Justin Forbes <jforbes@redhat.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 9:19 AM Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk> wrote:
> >
> > On 5/27/21 8:12 AM, Justin Forbes wrote:
> > > On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 8:43 AM Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> On 5/26/21 4:34 PM, Justin M. Forbes wrote:
> > >>> While IO_URING has been in fairly heavy development, it is hidden behind
> > >>> CONFIG_EXPERT with a default of on.  It has been long enough now that I
> > >>> think we should remove EXPERT and allow users and distros to decide how
> > >>> they want this config option set without jumping through hoops.
> > >>
> > >> The whole point of EXPERT is to ensure that it doesn't get turned off
> > >> "by accident". It's a core feature, and something that more and more
> > >> apps or libraries are relying on. It's not something I intended to ever
> > >> go away, just like it would never go away for eg futex or epoll support.
> > >>
> > >
> > > I am not arguing with that, I don't expect it will go away. I
> > > certainly do not have an issue with it defaulting to on, and I didn't
> > > even submit this with intention to turn it off for default Fedora. I
> > > do think that there are cases where people might not wish it turned on
> > > at this point in time. Hiding it behind EXPERT makes it much more
> > > difficult than it needs to be.  There are plenty of config options
> > > that are largely expected default and not hidden behind EXPERT.
> >
> > Right there are, but not really core kernel features like the ones
> > I mentioned. Hence my argument for why it's correct as-is and I
> > don't think it should be changed.
> >
>
> Honestly, this is fair, and I understand your concerns behind it. I
> think my real issue is that there is no simple way to override one
> EXPERT setting without having to set them all.  It would be nice if
> expert were a "visible if" menu, setting defaults if not selected,
> which allows direct override with a config file. Perhaps I will try to
> fix this in kbuild.
>

So it turns out that untangling this in kbuild is very difficult
without getting very unexpected results. Given the audit and security
discussions around io_uring lately, I am inclined to believe the
proper action is still to remove 'if EXPERT'.

Justin